Chilled Warmth
by Impure Perfection
Summary: He's always been a bit of a mix. Two sides of the same coin warring and bickering with one another. That has been his situation for his entire life. Why shouldn't it be that way at the end of his life?


**Chilly Warmth**

It was warm. Not the unbearably blazing warmth of the midsummer sun. Not the languid warmth of a rumbling fire. Nor was it the carnal warmth of his mate lying next to him. Rather, it was a soothing warmth that slowly seeped into his body and eased and soothed every joint, muscle, tendon, and fiber of his being leaving him in a cocoon of blissful warmth. Which was all very odd considering it was the dead of winter and the fact the shabby blanket he had always huddled under never kept him truly warm during the winter. The dog in him hated the cold. During these last two winters the dog had yearned to be inside. Preferably curled up with Jenna at the foot of Rosy's bed. The wolf in him, on the other hand, ached to shuck off the blanket and embrace the cold. Thanks to Borris, however, the two sides had always been kept in balance and so under this blanket Balto had stayed.

Borris. That old goose hadn't been around in a while. Ever since Stella had taught the nagging old goose to fly the two of them had been in and out of town constantly. Which was fine because every time they returned they brought back wild stories of places they had flown over. Places where there was no wilderness and the city dominated the land. And thanks to old man winter the two geese were currently visiting one of the far off places

There was that thought again. It was winter wasn't it? Fighting against the warmth that threatened to numb his mind he tried to recall what had transpired the day before. It took some shifting through old memories of but eventually he found it. Yesterday he had been playing with the newest of his grandkids. He and Jenna had gone to visit Kodiak and his mate to see the newest pups. While Jenna, Kodiak, and Kodiak's mate, named Amber, had been relaxing on the porch he had played hide and seek with the pups. The game had come to an abrupt halt, however, when Muck and Luck had shown up.

The two polar bears had grown over the years and were no longer quite the push-overs they had once been. They weren't near as large as some of the black bears that roamed the woods, but the two of them were still large enough to frighten any of the villagers that weren't familiar with the two. Thankfully most all of the villagers had come to recognize the two as his companions.

Anyways, the appearance of the two polar bears had halted the game due to their usual modicum of greeting putting Balto out of commission for the day. Had he been younger their traditional antics of tackling him wouldn't have even fazed him. Sadly, age had taken the resilience and tenacity out of his body. Which meant being tackled by two polar bears popped many things that probably should not have popped and left him huddled on the porch with Jenna for the rest of the evening. After relaxing and letting the soreness wear off he had said farewell to Jenna and the pups before heading back out to his boat and his shaggedy old blanket to warm the place up with his body heat before the winter chill froze it all solid.

So then it was winter. But then why was he so warm?

The dog in him said sleep, rest, and enjoy the warmth.

The wolf in him said fight the warmth back and wake to uncover the source behind this mysterious warmth. For this warmth was not natural, and anything unnatural had to be investigated to ensure it was not a threat.

Mulling over the two warring sides and how passionately they fought against one another he couldn't help but wonder when the two sides had become so hostile towards one another. The two had always stood in opposition to one another, but they had always been able to create the compromise that was his life. However, the two sides had began to be uncompromising and intolerable of one another recently. At least he thought it was recent. Was it recent?

Or better yet why did he have so many questions and so few answers?

Then again his life had always been plagued with question. The question of his identity had been a source of debate in the village for so long that it was eventually just accepted as undeterminable. Some still bickered over it which was the cause of him sleeping in the boat. They loved him during the day and hailed him as the village hero hound. But at night they looked at him as if he were a phantasmal hound from hell to be shunned until the time when they once again had need for his services. Even Jenna's masters refused to offer him asylum from the cold to keep up appearances with the rest of the village. Despite them knowing he was the father of her pups.

Jenna.

That was another great question that had taken the younger years of his life. Ever since he had first laid eyes on her the adoration of her had flickered to life in his heart. Over time it had grown into the all consuming love that had driven him to perform the impossible feats of heroism he was so well known for. But she had changed from the greatest question of his life the greatest certainty of his life. She was his sure footing in a world full of questions without answers.

The warmth blossomed at the thought of her and the certainty she offered. Mind slipping away from his control and back into the happy wealth of memories he had of their relationship he no longer fought to figure out the warmth or the questions of his life. Instead he merely relished his constant. Relished the warmth as it pervaded further into his body until it began to permeate his very being transmuting him from a mere physical being to an entity of nothingness who was everything and every memory he was moving through. Warmth consumed him and enraptured him. What was winter? Or rather what was cold for that matter? All he knew was warmth. Even the memories themselves were beginning to fade into the nothingness of the warmth.

A stabbing blast of ice pierced his chest and sent his mind reeling in shock as he was jerked away from the warmth and slammed back into reality. However, the ice didn't stop in his chest. Within seconds it had begun to spread through his frame tearing the warmth from his bones and replacing it with a liquid lightning of freezing ice that set his senses reeling and his heart racing. This foreign energy of liquid lightning filled him to the seams with energy until he felt as if he might explode. Unable to remain in the realm of slumber any longer he seized the energy of the icy lightning and sprang back into the realm of the waking.

Springing back to his feet before his eyes had even fully opened he leapt forward and immediately came to a halt as he collided with some solid object. Eyes opening and focusing as he scrambled back to his feet he saw that what he had collided with had been a great oaken cabinet filled with medicinal jars. That same cabinet was teetering from impact and leaning precariously towards him. Before it could tilt much further he darted to the left out of the path of the falling cabinet and watched as before it could fully fall over two different men rushed forwards and caught it. The first was the new doctor, a spry young lad clad in white medical coat who had bright red hair. The second he recognized as Rosy's father whose brown hair had begun to fade to gray.

Why were they here? Wait, here wasn't where here should have been. Here was the medical building. Not the boat he had been slumbering in. Why was this here? How had they moved him? When had they moved him? Why had they moved him? What had they done to him? What was the liquid lightning they had filled him with? Why had they done that? Was it good? Was it bad? Were they friends? Were they enemies?

"Balto!" A voice called out cutting through the myriad of questions.

Turning he saw her, he saw his constant.

Jenna was standing in the doorway. Worry covered her beautiful features, but still she was there and at the sight of her the questions washed away. The liquid lightning remained but that was negligible so long as she was there.

"Jenna." He breathed out before dashing forwards and nuzzling her neck so that he might inhale her scent in an attempt to calm his frayed nerves. Moments ago he had been an entity of warmth. Now the artic lightning that flowed through his veins made it difficult for him to stay still for more than a moment. Or to focus for more than a second. "What happened? Why am I here?" He questioned even as he turned to look back into the room where the doctor and master were cleaning up the few broken jars that had busted.

"It's okay. You're okay now." Jenna cooed more to calm herself than to calm him. She was still to busy nuzzling him for him to look her in the eye.

"Now?" He questioned. "What was wrong? Why am I here?"  
"We couldn't wake you." Jenna breathed out as she finally settled down enough to step back.  
"Wake me? How long was I out? It's still night out so I couldn't have been out for to long."

"Balto, you were out for nearly two days."

"What!?" Balto questioned breathlessly as his mind tried to absorb the enormity of time.

Jenna nodded sadly. "You didn't show up at all yesterday so I came looking for you today. When I couldn't get you to wake up I had to go get Rosy. She couldn't wake you, or carry you despite her best efforts, so we went and got her dad. He carried you here."

"He carried me here?" Balto asked in shock as he turned back to look at the man. Newfound appreciation and respect for the man colored him in a different light now. However, a flash of red outside the window caught his attention. Focusing on the bobbing red he saw it was Rosy standing outside the window and trying to peer in by jumping high enough to see. Chuckling Balto shook his head and turned back to Jenna. Cracking one of his infamous grins of mischief Balto bounded around Jenna playfully. "Well let's not keep Rosy waiting eh?"

Instead of her agreeing and cheering up the same look of worry was etched on her face.

"You sure?" She questioned to which he merely rolled his eyes.

"Of course!" He exclaimed as he continued to prance around his mate who merely watched him with a look of concern. He wanted to stay and sooth her nerves, but at the moment his own nerves were too energized from the liquid lightning for him to sit still. "Oh come on!" Balto teased as he nipped her ear before darting out of the room and out into the artic cold of the night where Rose stood waiting. With a bark of joy Balto charged.

Any other villager would have fled in fear, but this girl, who had always seen him as nothing more than a lovable pup, simply laughed and called out to him even as she braced for impact.

The two bodies collided and the end result was Rosy lying on her back with Balto atop her nuzzling and licking her face causing the girl to bust into a fit of giggles as she halfheartedly tried to push him off. It had become their usual routine ever since she had grown large enough for him to do it without harming her. Though, in the past month or two he simply hadn't felt the energy for it. Ah well the liquid lightning took care of that, and it felt nice to hear her laugh again.

However, their usual interruption came moments behind Balto. The master, Rosy's father, came out of the medical building with Jenna in tow. The man, as usual was hollering for Rosy to 'get the wolfdog off her' or some nonsense like that. This whole scene had happened countless times before. What hadn't happened before was Balto's reaction.

Instead of merely moving off and away from the girl he whirled around and snarled at the man. Both humans froze in shock. Even Balto himself froze in shock. He wanted to try and fix it, but he could already see it. The man who had come to regard him with an uneasy trust now looked at him with open fear. That fear quickly turned to anger. Watching, almost in slow motion thanks to the liquid lightning, as the man's muscles tensed Balto wanted to cower and to let the man think he was still the same obedient little pup he had always acted so as to not alarm the humans. But the wolf in him was far too near to the surface for him to cower properly. Instead of cowering Balto felt his muscles tense of their own accord even as a rumbling growl brewed in his chest halting the man in his tracks. The anger vanished and was replaced immediately with fear. The stray had turned.

"Balto?" Jenna called out shattering the frozen motion of the moment.

Snapping back to reality and out of the moment Balto gave a final snarl at the man. The bond between them had been shot, might as well burn the bridge down to the ground while he was at it.

Before Jenna, Rosy, or the man could react Balto took off in a mad dash. The liquid lightning freezing his being and feeding him foreign fuel pounded through his veins and pushed him faster and faster. In moments he was out of the village. In seconds more he was past the totems guarding the village. A moment more and he was passing the boat that had been his shelter, sanctuary, and home his entire life.

He ran and ran till the lights of the city faded away. Till the trees fell from sight. Till he had run into the true artic tundra of nothingness. Till he was surrounded by naught but the endless white of the earth below and the black of the sky above. Even though he had reached total nothingness he kept running. He plowed through the nothingness. On and on he ran.

Seems he had always been doing that.

Everytime his life had undergone adversity running had always been the answer. Either running to something, away from something, or running something to some one. Yet, now it was useless. He couldn't run from life itself. He could run for his life, but not from it. He could outrun the villages, but he couldn't outrun their disdain for him or the fact they would never truly welcome him with open arms. Speaking of things running, the liquid lightning that fueled this mad dash was beginning to run out. The endless reservoir of energy was apparently rather shallow.

Coming to a stop and breathing out clouds of steam in ragged breaths he began to turn back to the village and to shelter. Only, when he turned around and saw just how far from the village he had come did he pause. He was so far out he was the only being for miles and miles. No other life was on the barren plain. He was so far out the wind couldn't even carry the scent of other life to his nose.

Then why did he detect two scents? Sniffing the air and turning this way and that he recognized one scent as his own. At least it was a dulled and tamed version of his scent that lacked the usual wildness that permeated his scent and set him apart from the other dogs.

The second scent had all the wildness his usual scent was missing, and then some. It was a wild and warm scent of pine and blood. It was his and yet it wasn't. It was far too wild to be him. Yet, it was still him all the same. It carried his aroma. It carried his memories.

Shaking his head and dismissing it as a side affect of whatever liquid lightning the doctor had shot him up with Balto began to trot back to the village. At least, he had intended to merely trot.

Despite the reservoir of energy dwindling Balto couldn't help but break into one final mad dash. Now that the liquid lightning had evaporated a frozen residue of sparking nerves had been left in its wake. Those frayed and strained nerves drove him onwards. And drove him mad.

His exhaustion grew with each passing bound. Soon the thundering of his paws against the ground became the tempo for the thumping of his heart. Whether it was his body being ran by his heart or his heart being run by his body he didn't know. All he knew was that he didn't know what was happening and that he had to get to his constant. She would be warm. She would let him sleep. She would be the beating of his heart.

A blinding flash of heat smote Balto as the frozen residue receded far enough for the warmth to return. And it did so with vengeance. Bumbling and faltering in his steps he barely managed to trudge onwards as the warmth swelled within him only to be quelled by the remaining frozen nerves. The two took to battle at first sight.

The warmth brewed and bubbled just beneath the surface of his skin, numbing all that it touched, as it attempted to seep further inwards. It was the same warmth from earlier. The warmth that wasn't the sun. The warmth that wasn't the blaze of a fire. The warmth that wasn't his constant. The warmth the dog loved and nourished. The warmth the wolf detested and repelled.

The frozen ice coalesced and congregated at his core, awakening the beast and sending the wolf into a frenzy, as it attempted to break from of its cage. It was the same frozen energy that had come from the doctor. The same ice of his youth. The same ice that had sent him on this maniac run. The same ice that drove him to his constant. The same ice that the wolf loved and yearned for. The same ice the dog feared and fled from.

As the two sides warred and fought within him Balto ran on. He had not the strength to put the sides into synchronicity and continue running. The two sides had always fought, let them continue to do so. Running was worth focusing on. Running would bring him to Jenna. And so he ran. As he was blinded by the warmth and assaulted by the cold he continued.

It drove him mad.

It drove him insane.

It drove him delirious.

It drove him home.

Fleeing the internal war Balto returned to where he had begun. The ship that had not quite sunk, nor was it still truly afloat. It was suspended between the murky waters below and the sky above by naught but a few scant feet of perpetual ice.

But more important than the ship itself, or the memories it contained within its hull, was who was standing at its bow. His mate. His Jenna. His constant.

Just the sight of her ended the nonsensical internal war and brought a tranquil sense of serenity that cooled the warmth and thawed the frozen liquid lightning.

"Jenna." He breathed out as the final remnants of the frozen liquid lightning drained from his system. Emptied of all energy he collapsed to the ground in a heap as his breathing grew labored and his vision blurred.

A fuzzy warbling sound entered his perception but he was far too gone to make any sense of it. Whatever it was it was constant. As was whatever was carrying his weight and dragging him somewhere.

His mind swam through a murky pool of confusion, insensibleness, and obliviousness. Who would drag him? Why would they drag him? Where would they drag him? Or better yet, where had he been before they began to drag him?

Finally the warbling left his ears as did the entity that had been carrying him. In their place a soothing warmth settled over him. . Not the unbearably blazing warmth of the midsummer sun. Not the languid warmth of a rumbling fire. Nor was it the carnal warmth of his mate lying next to him. Rather it was a soothing warmth that was placed over him even as the hollowness in his chest filled with leadenly resolute ice.

Seems one final conflagration had yet to have been had. Heaving a final sigh he settled into his memories and braced for the battle. His body was lost to him. But what about to the other two?

A spark was struck by thought and the ice in his hollow chest flared to life as the warmth seeped inwards and onwards.


End file.
